Theme.
In this edition of #founderhacks we look at the lessons of growing a business during a pandemic with the help of our very special guest Jennifer Quigley Jones - founder and CEO of Digital Voices - the global leader in YouTube Creator Marketing.
Seen.
"But this is how we've always done it!"
As more companies make working from an office mandatory again we have noticed a common mantra being used to justify the decision; it must be done so that the young people can learn.
Jenny doesn't subscribe to this point of view. Since Covid hit Digital Voices has grown from 5 to 28 employees - all of the new hires were onboarded and developed remotely.
She's done it by adopting a strategy of twice-daily conference calls coupled with highly structured training. All of the company's key processes are now documented and supported with the use of videos and interactive quizzes.
This made us ponder. Does a company struggling with its learning culture need to force its employees to spend more time in the office? Or should the people running it just learn to do things differently?
Read.
Practice on your boss
Jenny tries hard not to fall in to the founder's trap of adapting her company around the last business book she's read.
That said she now buys everyone who joins a copy of a book named Never Split The Difference by ex-FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss.
It's all about helping people get the outcome they want through good negotiation. She encourages her colleagues to use the strategies in the book on her during their chats about their careers and salary expectations.
A great example, if ever there was one, on giving your team the skills to grow and potentially outgrow you.
Learned.
Is trying too hard to be liked hurting your business?
It is nice to be liked by your colleagues, let's face it, but is trying to be liked useful in helping you grow your business?
After receiving some honest, constructive feedback from her team about trying too hard to be liked, Jenny realised that she was inhibiting the growth of her own company by trying to make everyone happy.
Her mindset is now focused towards running Digital Voices more like a professional sports team than a family.
She believes that the way people think about their careers has changed and that as a founder one of her roles is to embrace that change rather than fight it. We found it hard to disagree.
Maybe a focus built around mutual respect in the workplace is more useful than making sure everyone likes each other?
And finally.
Following on from Jenny's "learned" was a quote she used which I rather liked. It went something like this, "Don't accept criticism from people you wouldn't accept compliments from".
Don’t forget to check out the accompanying podcast version of #founderhacks for a tantalising live experience of team atomex!
